Jul 15, 2011

A few months back I had a request to do a make-over for pink lemonade cupcakes. The original recipe was totally decadent loaded with butter and buttercream icing and I wasn't sure how I would pull it off. I played around with this one several ways, and this is what I came up with. I chose to keep them naked and simple since they are sweet enough as is. If you like tart and sweet, these cupcakes are for you!

Stir together the water and pink lemonade powder. Combine the cake mix, pink lemonade mixture, applesauce, lemon zest, food coloring and oil in a large bowl and with an electric mixer, mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake pans. Add sprinkles if using and bake in the oven for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

These are next on my list to make after I make the chocolate chip ricotta muffins. I just made your homemade granola bars and they seriously rock! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! These new muffins sound amazing. Kind of recipes me of the frozen strawberry lemonade from McDonalds, but in muffin form lol

Salvation! Food Network posted Paula Deen's pink lemonade cake on Facebook yesterday and it looked REALLY tempting. I'm sure these will help me get that fix if I need it, without doing too much damage!

Those are so cute and perfect for summer! Have you ever tried the WW recipe that uses a box of angel food cake and 1 can of cherry pie filling or pinapple? Also light and summery!www.luvwhatyoudo.wordpress.com

I'd like to try this with the soda cake recipe using sprite or 7-up! Another suggestion if someone really wants a bit of frosting is a low-fat cream cheese frosting and add the same pink lemonade crystals and zest to the frosting!

What about just adding fresh lemon juice, I don't like the artificial sweetners too much, think it would work cause the cake mix is so sweet? I hate to be one of those recipe "changers" I think you are so awesome!!! Pam

I know this goes against your grain, but could you reference me to the original recipe you trimmed down? I'm doing a pink lemonade theme for my daughters birthday and have been trying so hard to find a pink lemonade cupcake version. I want to offer the skinny version for the adults and full fat version for the kids!

Ok....I have a barbeque to go to tomorrow. Would love to try these. The only cake mix I have in the cupboard that would work (other than chocolate) is yellow and lemon. Do you think the lemeon would make it to lemony?? Or maybe omit the lemonade mix?

Gina, Thank you SO much for answering my request for this cupcake! It is my favorite, and I couldn't be more excited for this WW option!!!!!!!! YOU are amazing!!!!!!! :)

For the person that asked for the original recipe, the one I use all the time is at http://www.ericasweettooth.com/2010/04/pink-lemonade-cupcakes.htmlIt's delicious! (and the decorative straw would be cute for a party)

Gina, again...thank you very very much. My friends will be so very excited to know that the next time I bring my favorite treat to a party it will be WW friendly!

Gina I made these on Saturday when I saw the post- it was the perfect light treat to make to bring to a short getaway with friends! everyone was so impressed that they were only 97 calories and I was so happy to have something light for dessert, they were soooooooo good! will definitely be making these a lot this summer! Thanks so much for the recipe =)

For the person who asked why not use the lighter version for kids - I am not the original poster, but I wouldn't use sugar-free sweetener for my daughter (she's only 16 months old), but I would use this recipe with regular lemonade. My daughter is also very small, so she can use the extra fat from regular recipes. Every child is different in their dietary needs.

These look yummy! I'm from the UK and I don't think our supermarkets sell powdered pink lemonade, and I don't want to pay a fortune to import it! Could I just use some pink lemonade soda/juice instead if I cut out the cup of water in your recipe?

I made these this weekend - THEY ARE AMAZING! Mine have a muffin like texture, so I've kept them in the fridge and enjoy them for breakfast (well, snack too!) This is a great, easy recipe and just the perfect amount of tart. As usual, a great recipe! Thanks for posting!

I made these thew other day and they turned out EXCELLENT!!!!! Loved them! I wasn't sure about lemonade flavored cupcakes, sounded a bit weird, but can't keep my hands out of them! The bottoms of the cupcakes burned in the wrappers and I took it out at 18 minutes. Maybe because I sprayed the cupcake wrappers? I am not very experienced with making cupcakes and the last time I made them, they stuck to the paper and couldn't get them out, so I sprayed them. But other then peeling the thin burnt layer off the bottom, they are great!

THESE ARE AMAZING!!! Even though the bf has a super sweet tooth and is quite picky, he even loved them. Though one should be enough, sometimes two is tasty and I was surprised when I tracked it that two of these are only 5 points+.

Made something similar to this Saturday for a family cookout. Only I used a yellow cake mix, the crystal light pink lemonaid and 1 cup of diet ginger ale, nothing else. They were YUMMY. Got the idea from seeing these. Only thing is, I forgot to spray the muffin papers, so they stuck to the paper. It was funny seeing everyone eathing them off the paper because they were so good lol.

Nice recipe! I way browsing for cupcake recipes cause I got to bake a big quantity and I want to bake different kinds!From the pictures I can relate to Agnes from "Despicable me" and say that "They're so fluffy!!"

I made these yesterday...I followed the recipe but excluded the food coloring...and mistakenly forgot the lemon zest. oops...but they were tart enough and were quite yummy. I checked them at about 20 minutes and a knife came out clean but mine were kinda gummy in the middle also. They weren't light and fluffy...but more dense and heavier in the middle. They were good but I wondered what I did wrong too...thought maybe it was the applesauce. I used Crystal Light Pink Lemonade powder and the Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix. They didn't have the other brand. My mix only made 12 instead of 24 and they came out the size of an average cup cake. I will make them again and remember the lemon zest this time. ;) Thanks Gina! You are awesome!

You know what, I also used the Pillsbury Funfetti mix, and I just looked at another box that I have here at home and it says 18.91 oz. This recipe says 18.25. I wonder if thats why mine came out gummy?

Tried this with Angel food cake mix and it was great! I overcooked mine a little and they got a little brown, but still tasted pretty good! Plus, the Angel food is fat free! So it lowered my weight watchers points even more! I'm gonna try it again with regular lemonade instead of Pink, the pink was a little tart for my liking. Thanks for the recipe!

Hi!New to the site.... and already in love! I am going to try this out on my hubby first and then for my best friends bachelorette weekend! She love Pink Pantie Pull Downs... the drink... and these will go perfectly with her favs for the weekend... sweet little not so bad treats as we all prepare to fit into the bridal party attire! Love this website... got introduced by a friend at theVine church in Hoschston, GA! Grateful and trying the Southwestern Chicken Crock pot recipe and the crispy thin pizza recipe this week as my hubby and i start our healthier lifestyle. :) Thanks Gina and all the wonderful commentators!

I move somethings around n made these and they came out great! Instead of using pink lemonade powder i used about 1/3 of pink lemon concentration and did n't use water. I also didn't use lemon zest but instead of lemon extract. Worked out perfect

I used the pilsbury brand too because the store I went to didn't have duncan hines, mine turned out pretty dense also... now that I think about it, pilsbury uses pudding in their mix, I bet that had something to do with it.

Would these work with regular pink lemonade mix instead of sugar free. I dont want to give my kids artificial sweetner. I have made the full fat version before and it was super yummy! I'm sure these are great and I want to try. Thanks!

I made these cupcakes and they were fabulous! Instead of using pink lemonade, I substituted 1 packet of Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade and was so happy with the results. These cupcakes were very airy and fluffy- almost like angel food! The flavor was spot on. I've been on WW for 4 months now and am always dying to find a sweet recipe that is low points and this hit the spot. The cupcakes were sweet enough to stand on their own without icing. Thanks, Gina!

These are in the oven as I speak! They smell great and are absolutely adorable! I used little star confetti sprinkles. I know they will taste great! (Because I totally licked the whisk and the batter was delicious!)

I just tried these cupcakes and I was a little disappointed. I don't know if something went wrong while making them but I split the batter and did half with pink lemonade mix and the other half with cherry limeade. The cherry limeade was just a bad idea, at least the brand I used. The pink lemonade were just okay. The batter came out really thick so maybe I measured something incorrectly. I have LOVED every other recipe of this site!

I was looking for a pink lemonade cupcake recipe for my boyfriend's birthday (he's in love with the pink lemonade cupcakes from the local cupcake bakery), but he is trying to watch his weight. This is a great solution, and no doubt as delicious as all the other recipes on Skinnytaste! Haven't found a bad one yet. THANK YOU for being such an amazing resource!

Sad I wasn't able to post for a chance to win the Yonanas maker... but I would love to try this recipe. It looks so good. I attempted to make something like this after someone on the WW website told me about it from another blog but it didn't work so well in my blender!

I made these today but just with a couple tweaks. I am a poor college student so I look for things on the cheaper side and also I have no car so I do last minute shopping at the Walgreens across the street. I had Pillsbury Halloween Funfetti cake mix on hand from buying a few boxes on clearance so I used that instead. I also used raspberry-lemonade mix since that was all I could find at the Walgreens. I didn't use food coloring because the batter came out super pink. Since I didn't have lemons for the rind, I used lemon juice from a bottle. Lastly, I used a mini cupcake pan since that's what I have. I was able to make 28 mini cupcakes at 2 points each! They taste awesome!

I made these for my sister's-in-law birthday and they were a hit! Although, they did not turn out as good as I would have liked. I couldn't find a Duncan Hines brand cake mix, so I used Pillsbury and it wasn't 18.25 oz. The cakes didn't rise very much, they stuck to the cupcake liners, and were kind of a funny texture. I'm not sure if it was related to not having the right mix or not. I plan on trying them again with the Duncan Hines mix. I also added some vanilla Cool Whip frosting on top! :-)

I made these for my sister's bridal shower a couple years ago & they were fantastic!!! I saved some for my fiance & even he liked them. It's a fun recipe to use when you have a little one that wants to help you cook/bake. My then-4-year-old niece helped me out & she loved it. :)

I just recently found out about this site and I am in Luv with all the recipes. I made the cupcakes last night my first recipe of yours and they were AMAZING!!! I will definitely be trying many more. Thanks for posting all these healthy recipes.